Double Vision
by Welcome to the TARDIS
Summary: In the midst of trying to save the forest from what the Once-ler is bound to become, the Lorax accidentally creates a second Once-ler- one who seems a bit off. (Oncest; Once-let/Greed-ler)
1. Chapter 1

I was looking for Oncest fan fiction, and everyone seems to portray the Greed-ler as super evil, but seeing as he's technically still Oncie, I decided to write something where he's a bit less uh, harsh? Still a manipulative little bastard though.

Hopefully my interpretation isn't too out of character for you haha

Set before Oncie is able to get people to buy his Thneeds

* * *

When the Lorax first decided that he was going to save the forest, he had no intentions of _this_ happening. _This_ being the fact that there were two human boys standing in front of him that looked almost exactly the same besides the way they were dressed.

"Lorax, you have some explaining to do," the Once-ler wearing a more casual, and less flamboyant outfit said, his facial expression told the Lorax that he was not happy. At all.

The Lorax took in a deep breath, "well this isn't exactly what I intended on happening."

"Some sort of freak accident," the other Once-ler muttered, he was wearing a whole lot of bright green, and a pair of large sunglasses were pushed up off his face against his huge top hat.

"Yeah sure freak accident is a good way to put it," the Lorax couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated by the two Once-lers, neither of them looked to be in a good mood, plus the Lorax had no clue what was going on with the really flashy one, he seemed to be holding himself in an entirely different manner than the other.

"I was just sitting around and then he showed up! Like he literally popped up out of nowhere! It was freaky!" Oncie- the original Once-ler- exclaimed.

The other Once-ler huffed, "it was worse for me! Imagine being the one popping out of no where!"

"Who even are you?" Oncie asked the Once-ler, "who even is he?" He pointed towards the Lorax.

"He's you," the Lorax shrugged, "some super showy version of you."

"Alternate version of me?" Oncie looked over at the Once-ler.

"I'm obviously the good looking version of you," the Once-ler sniggered.

"You need to fix this," Oncie told the Lorax sternly, ignoring the Once-lers comment.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll try but I can't guarantee anything."

"What am I supposed to do with him?! I can't just walk around town with a clone of myself!"

"I'll just stay in the forest then," The Once-ler offered, "I wouldn't mind taking a look around."

"Perfect, way to compromise!" The Lorax grinned broadly, irritating Oncie thoroughly.

"Alright, I'm leaving then," Oncie took one more glance at his duplicate before turning around and beginning to trek away from him and the Lorax.

The Lorax looked up at the Once-ler and furrowed his brow, "I don't know what you are, but it's kind of freaky. Just leave Oncie alone though, he's got enough to worry about without you bothering him."

The Once-ler was about to respond when he felt a terrible pain in his chest, he fell to his knees, and exhaled loudly, it felt like his chest was being crushed, he could barely breath. The Lorax scrambled towards the Once-ler, he had no clue what to do in this situation. If only Oncie was still here, the Lorax looked in the direction he had wandered off in and felt his jaw drop when he saw Oncie keeled over in a similar position as the Once-ler, he hadn't made it very far away from the Lorax.

The Lorax put two and two together fairly quickly. "Come on," he pulled on the Once-lers coat, "you need to get closer to the other you."

The Once-ler's eyes were open wide, and his face was pale, he did attempt to start crawling towards Oncie, though. The Lorax waved his hands in the air and called out loudly to Oncie, "Come back here you beanpole!" He grabbed onto the Once-ler and tried his best to help pull him forward. The man was attempting to get on his feet, the Lorax was surprised at the amount of willpower he had.

A few moments of struggling later, the two Once-lers had apparently gotten close enough to each other to stop hurting, but Oncie was still running forward, he grabbed onto the Once-ler as soon as he was close enough and the Once-ler didn't hesitate grabbing onto him in return. The amount of relief he felt as soon as Oncie was near was overwhelming.

"Do not leave each other again," the Lorax warned, "I refuse to deal with that again."

"How am I supposed to advertise my Thneeds?" Oncie groaned.

"Advertising? I can help with that," the Once-ler grinned revealing teeth that almost looked sharp.

"I'll start trying to find a way to fix this," the Lorax sighed, "in the meantime don't do anything stupid."

"I never do anything stupid," Oncie said as the Once-ler said, "I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Okay great, now shoo," the Lorax waved his hand in a 'go away' motion and Oncie began trotting away. The Once-ler trailed along a few feet behind him.

"So you need help advertising, huh?" The Once-ler asked.

"I'm having a little trouble selling my amazing product," Oncie replied semi-hesitantly. It was really unsettling talking to someone who looked and sounded just like yourself.

"What kind of product?" The Once-ler had picked up his pace so that he was walking right beside Oncie.

"It can do almost anything!" Oncie smiled at the thought, "I'll have to show you for you to understand, but it's really genius!"

The Once-ler nodded, "sure sound like a good product, why aren't people buying?"

"That's the problem," Oncie frowned, "they don't get it! I don't know what else I can do to persuade them into buying."

"I'm pretty creative, I bet I can help your sales multiply" the Once-ler smirked, "as long as I get some of the profit."

"Aren't you me anyways?" Oncie narrowed his eyes, "whatever, hopefully you'll be gone soon anyways."

"Damn, harsh," Oncie was surprised to hear the Once-ler swear. "I'm just offering to help."

"Sorry it's just really weird to be talking to someone who looks just like me."

"You'd never be able to handle having a twin."

Oncie snorted, "I have older twin brothers, maybe that's why I don't like the idea."

"Ooh yes I faintly recall them," the Once-ler tapped his chin, "Chad and Brad?"

"Chet and Brett," Oncie laughed, "wait, you said you recall them, do you have like the same memory as me then?"

"Kind of," the Once-ler shrugged, "I know the big details of your life, but nothing small, no specific memories. I know your mom is a bitch, and that your brothers are idiots, and that your Aunts are even worse, so two-faced!"

"My mom's not that bad," Oncie glanced downwards, "she just plays favorites."

"She obviously isn't very smart then, your brothers are less-than-average in just about everything besides football."

"That's unfortunately true."

They walked along in silence for a few minutes, Oncie began to think more deeply about his current situation, he hadn't had much time to really evaluate what was going on yet.

So there was a second him, and he wore a suit with sunglasses that didn't particularly match. He was kind of rude, or at least very blunt, but he didn't seem mean. It was obvious to Oncie that they had very different ways of thinking though, it was obvious in the way that the Once-ler expressed himself. His body language was as easy to read as the way he spoke. He stood up as straight as possible, making the most of his height, and walked like he was strutting down a catwalk. He also used his hands a lot when he was speaking, but Oncie knew that he did that too.

The most concerning part of it all was that if the Once-ler was an alternate version of himself, what was the big altercation? Oncie had read stories of characters meeting the opposite gender version of themself, but this Once-ler was obviously not a girl. It made Oncie weary of the other man.

"It looks as if we've made it to town," the Once-ler was looking up at the large 'Welcome to Sneedville' sign.

"I wanted to see if there were any open billboards I could rent," Oncie said, "I haven't tried that yet."

"Billboards? No no no, what you need is something big and flashy," Oncie opened his mouth to mention that billboards _were_ big and flashy, but the Once-ler kept talking, "some sort of live performance to get people involved."

"I mean, I have a guitar," Oncie shrugged. "I don't think that's my best option though."

"You can sing?"

"I didn't say anything about singing!"

"I bet you can sing," the Once-ler nudged him in the side with his elbow.

"Why don't you try for yourself, we have the same voice."

The Once-ler looked as if the idea had never occurred to him. Thus the Once-ler started up an interesting rendition of Row, Row, Row Your Boat, testing out his voice throughout the song. He wasn't a bad singer, but the song choice wasn't very flattering.

"You could pull off singing on the streets," the Once-ler concluded after he finished his song.

"Wow, thanks."

"Just make up a catchy jingle, people love them. I have yet to see your product though, is it jingle material?"

"I'll show you when I go home, I didn't bring it with me because of well, you showing up."

"I can be a bit distracting," the Once-ler waggled his eyebrows in a way that made Oncie a bit uncomfortable.

"Anyways, I'm still going to go look for open billboards," Oncie was determined to change the subject back to the original topic quickly. "I think it would be a worthy investment."

It didn't take long to find the retail building in town, or at least it didn't feel like it took very long, the Once-ler kept asking questions about everywhere they passed, it seemed as if he was sizing everything up.

"Why don't you stay out here?" Oncie suggested, looking at a wooden bench that was placed outside of the small building, "I don't want to scare whoevers working in there."

"Again, haven't you heard of twins?" The Once-ler sat down on the bench despite his complaining. Oncie straightened his hat, cleared his throat, and entered the store, ready for business.

* * *

The Once-ler sat outside the retail building, waiting for Oncie to come back outside. It was a shame that the other man didn't take his advice more seriously, he knew what he was doing, and he was very good at it. The reason the Thneeds weren't selling was all about advertisement and Oncie was going about it all wrong.

They hadn't known each other long though, it was reasonable for Oncie not to listen to him yet, but the Once-ler knew it wouldn't take long for him to gain Oncie's trust. After that happened he'd be easy to manipulate, easy to make him into the man he deserved to be.

As long as that dumb Lorax didn't get in the way, he didn't seem to be much of a threat, but he _had_ accidently brought the Once-ler to life. It wouldn't surprise him if he accidently got rid of him too.

But that wasn't a problem at the moment, so the Once-ler decided to focus on more important things, like how he was going to gain Oncie's trust. So far it had been going well, conversation had come easily, and the fact that they literally had to stay by each others side was helpful.

Speaking of which, the Once-ler wasn't feeling the best, sitting alone. It wasn't to the point that he was in pain, but he felt a sort of weariness sitting upon him, and he felt sort of… sad. The Once-ler stood up and began pacing around the bench, trying to wake himself up. Maybe this invisible chain between them was more of a hindrance than helpful.

A woman walked past the bench pushing a stroller, she glanced at the Once-ler briefly but didn't say anything. The Once-ler realized this was the first person he had seen outside besides Oncie. Where was everyone? They were in the heart of the city, the street was lined with shops and it was a nice summer day, this didn't add up.

The Once-ler heard the bell above the door of the retail shop ring, and he turned around. Oncie was holding a stack of papers, and wearing a doubtful expression. The Once-ler immediately took a few steps toward Oncie, and he automatically felt as if he'd been recharged with energy.

"How'd that go?"

"Well I found a perfect place to put a Thneed ad," the corners of Oncie's mouth rose slightly, "but it's a little more expensive than I thought it would be."

"See! I told ya your talents would be much more beneficial!" the Once-ler swung his arm around Oncie's shoulders, the other man went still under his touch. That wasn't a good sign. The Once-ler slowly slid his hand down Oncie's arm, "hey just tell me if you're not comfortable with something, okay?"

Oncie turned his head to face the Once-ler, they were barely a foot apart, "Sorry," he said softly, "just not used to other people initiating contact."

Way to make a guy feel bad, the Once-ler kept his loose grip on Oncie's arm, "come on, where to next?"

"Home," Oncie nodded once and started walking back the way they came.

"What does everyone in town do all day?" the Once-ler asked.

"Oh, yeah, not many people out right now," Oncie was looking around, "they're probably out enjoying nature. People are really into that here."

"Really? Interesting." The Once-ler tucked that information away for later.

* * *

By the time they made it back to the forest the sun was beginning to lower in the sky and Oncie was starving. As soon as he entered his home he headed for the kitchen. Pancakes sounded fantastic.

The Once-ler sat down at the small table in the kitchen. "What are you doing?"

"Making food, obviously," Oncie rolled his eyes even though the Once-ler could only see his back,

"Ooh sassy," the Once-ler was easily amused. "I like that."

Oncie felt his face flush, this other him certainly enjoyed messing with him. Oncie dropped the whisk he had been using into the sink and began pouring batter onto the griddle. All he could do was hope that the Lorax got rid of the other him soon.

The pancakes came out perfectly, and they towered high on the plate Oncie had set them on. He spun around to find the Once-ler eyeing up the plate. "Hopefully there are enough to share," he almost seemed disgusted by how much food Oncie had made.

"If you don't want to eat fine, more for me."

The Once-ler forked a single pancake onto his plate. Oncie doused his own in syrup.

"Kind of sweet for my taste," the Once-ler commented.

"You don't like pancakes?!" Oncie felt as if he had been punched in the face, who in their right mind didn't like pancakes?!

"I mean they're alright but I prefer something a little heartier. Like meat."

Oncie stuck out his bottom lip, "I _love_ pancakes."

The Once-ler was almost glad that there was a knock at the door before he could come up with any sort of reply. _Almost_ , because it turned out that the Lorax was at the door.

"Have you found a way to fix this yet?" Oncie asked the Lorax eagerly.

"This might actually take a bit longer than I thought it would," the Lorax was rubbing the back of his head with his hand.

Oncie groaned, "he doesn't like pancakes!"

The Lorax ignored him, "just let me know if something bad happens, I'm still not sure how he's here so he could glitch out or something."

"I'm right here, you know," the Once-ler waved at the Lorax.

"Don't do anything bad," the Lorax shot in his direction.

"I'm not a little kid," the Once-ler glared.

"Just let me know when you find something out about this," Oncie sighed, "in the meantime I'm going to finish my pancakes."

"He's gonna stay with you then?"

"We don't have much of a choice," The Once-ler crossed his arms over his chest and stood up so that he was towering over the Lorax. "Why don't you get back to finding out how to get rid of me?" He waved one hand in a 'shoo' motion and pulled open the door with the other.

"I'll be fine, Lorax," Oncie smiled reassuringly as the creature was pushed out of the house.

"You better be, Beanpole," the door slammed shut behind the Lorax.

The Once-ler sat back down at the table and huffed out a sigh. "What did I ever do to him?"

"He's just overprotective," Oncie sat back down as well, "I think."

"I'm not gonna do anything to you," the Once-ler chuckled darkly, which wasn't reassuring at all. "Although I can't say I wouldn't like to."

"Alright that's enough of that," Oncie replied quickly, he hoped his face wasn't as red as it felt.

"Cute," the Once-ler commented, but didn't push the subject any further, which was a relief to Oncie. "You still haven't shown me your Thneed."

"Oh yeah!" Oncie jumped up out of his chair grinning, he crossed the room quickly and picked up a pink piece of fabric. "It can do just about anything," he was beaming, "you can wear it, or carry it as a bag, or use it as an umbrella, and a whole bunch of other stuff too!"

The Once-ler took the Thneed out of Oncie's hand and a smile spread across his face. It was perfect. The Thneed had every component needed for a successful product, it was an entrepreneur's biggest fantasy. It wouldn't take long at all for the Thneed to become a bestseller.

And once the Thneed blew up, Oncie would finally become the man he was meant to be. Successful and well known, and most importantly, rich.

The Once-ler made eye contact with Oncie, wanting him to see the overwhelming emotion behind his eyes. Oncie visibly swallowed, his smile wavering.

"I _love_ it."

* * *

I feel like I should mention that I'm calling the Greed-ler "the Once-ler" because that's who Oncie thinks of him as, at least for now.


	2. Chapter 2

Oncie woke up and found that he was trapped underneath an arm.

Going to bed the night before had been a bit, well more than bit, awkward, at least from Oncie's point of view. His bed was rather small, and he offered to sleep somewhere else, but the Once-ler graciously reminded him how nice it felt to be close to each other.

The other him didn't seem to have any modesty either, he stripped down to a white undershirt and his boxers in the middle of the room while Oncie shuffled away to the bathroom to change into his pajamas.

They climbed into bed together, and Oncie slid as far to the left as possible without falling off the bed. The Once-ler curled up on his side facing the opposite direction.

They had obviously moved around during the night though, because now Oncie could feel the Once-ler's breath on the back of his neck, and he was being held like a stuffed animal. Oncie wasn't sure what the proper etiquette was in this situation.

He decided his best option was to gently lift the other man's arm off of him and scoot out of bed as quietly as possible. Even if the Once-ler was kind of a jerk, it was rude to wake someone up for no reason.

Oncie stretched his arms above his head as he peered into his kitchen cabinet, he could make pancakes again, but he wasn't sure the ridicule from the Once-ler would be worth it. He ended up just reaching out for a bag of marshmallows. He hadn't seen any of the forest animals lately, maybe he should visit them today.

The Once-ler was groaning on the other side of the house, and shoving his face into his pillow. It was way too early to be awake. Today was going to be a big day, though. Today was going to be the start of Oncie's empire.

Well, his and Oncies' empire.

The Once-ler climbed out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen to find Oncie still in his childish pajamas being disgustingly unhealthy. "For breakfast, really?" Oncie looked up from his bag of marshmallows, startled. He wasn't used to having other people being in his home like this.

"I didn't want to make pancakes again."

"Don't you have any bacon or something?"

"I'd have to go buy some."

"That's unfortunate." The Once-ler opened up the fridge and took out the carton of eggs. Sunny-side-up would have to do for now.

The Once-ler's plan for the day was to begin to gain Oncie's trust. The guy was friendly and outgoing so it realistically wouldn't take very long. He just needed to make himself relatable. "So what are we gonna do today?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"Well I'm going to visit some of the animals," Oncie said, "they're cool."

The Once-ler scrunched up his nose, "you want visit wild animals?"

"They're good company!" Oncie protested. He headed back towards his closet, as much as he'd like to stay in his pajamas all day he felt the need to be at least semi-productive. Plus the Once-ler was bound to need to be entertained all day. This would be so much easier if they could leave each others' sides.

Oncie got dressed quickly and wrapped his Thneed around his neck, the Once-ler was scraping his egg out of the pan and onto his plate. His hair was still sleep mused, and he looked like he was lost in thought, he hadn't noticed that Oncie had come back.

Oncie wanted to smack himself in the face for thinking that it was kind of cute. In a nonconventional kind of way, of course. He didn't think of himself as cute, but the other Once-ler seemed to be able to pull it off-

Nope. He needed to stop.

Oncie watched the Once-ler pour a ridiculous amount of salt onto his egg. "We can go out to the store later."

The Once-ler looked up, "as long as I get to push the cart."

Oncie rolled his eyes. "I figured I might bring my guitar into town."

"Taking my advice!" The Once-ler grinned, "just make sure your lyrics are family friendly."

"I'm going to be singing about thneeds!"

"Thneeds are very multi-purpose."

"You're a creep," Oncie pulled a face.

"It was a valid point!" The last of the Once-ler's breakfast disappeared into his mouth and he dropped his plate into the sink. "Be right back."

Oncie exhaled loudly, the Lorax better be working on getting rid of this other him soon. Before someone he knew noticed that there were two of him, like his mother or Norma.

Oncie picked up his guitar and slung it around his shoulder, hopefully he could collect a big enough crowd in town to sell at least one Thneed, it could start a chain reaction.

The Once-ler returned, dressed back up in his suit. The suit made him look much larger than he did without. That was probably the point, Oncie realized.

The Once-ler put his sunglasses on and whipped open the front door, "I can already tell that today is going to be fantastic!"

"What makes you say that?" Oncie wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"You're gonna sell so many Thneeds! And I'm gonna be right there beside you!"

"Or in the general vicinity."

"Plus we're going shopping together! That's so couple-y!" The Once-ler slid over so that his shoulder bumped into Oncie's.

Oncie slunk away from him, "can you cut that out? It's weird."

"I'm not even allowed to flirt with you?"

"I can't tell if you're being serious or not," they were headed towards a part of the forest that a lot of the animals tended to hang around. Oncie had brought along a bag of marshmallows for them, hopefully they weren't disturbed by the presence of the Once-ler.

"I'm being as serious as you want me to be," the Once-ler reached over and took a marshmallow out of the bag Oncie was holding.

Oncie decided not to respond to that comment. They were entering the clearing where the animals could be found hanging around. Oncie grinned broadly as soon as he saw one of the Bar-ba-loots, he reached into his bag of marshmallows and tossed one lightly towards the little creature, it caught it in it's mouth with little effort.

The Once-ler was standing back, watching the exchange curiously. Oncie had kneeled down and was patting the little bear on the head. So far Oncie hadn't been attacked by the bear, which was probably a good sign, but the Once-ler didn't feel an urge to get any closer.

Oncie glanced over his shoulder, "come over here," he waved his hand and the Once-ler took a few steps forwards. He wasn't afraid of the animal, he just didn't see the appeal of being anywhere near it.

Oncie placed a marshmallow in the Once-ler's hand, and he considered eating it himself before holding it down towards the Bar-ba-loot. The animal took it gratefully, not seeming to care where it was getting food from as long as it tasted good.

Oncie stood up, "I don't know where the rest of the animals are, so I guess we can go to town now."

"Thank god, I was beginning to think I would be bored to death."

Oncie didn't bother replying. They headed to town in a comfortable silence, the Once-ler's mind reeling with ideas about selling Thneeds the whole way.

Oncie sat down in the middle of downtown Sneedville on a concrete bench and propped his guitar up on his knee. There were plenty of people around that would notice him if he started playing some kind of music. He tugged on the Thneed around his neck to make sure it was as obviously _there_ as possible.

The Once-ler watched with a smirk on his face, "You're gonna do great."

Oncie's face flushed, "it's kind of intimidating with you watching me like this."

"Well I can't go very far," the Once-ler shrugged. "Plus I'm your biggest fan!"

"You'll attract attention."

"That's what you want!"

"Okay, just, sit over there," Oncie exhaled loudly.

The Once-ler followed Oncie's orders and sat down about 20 yards away from Oncie, on a part of the long cement bench that was underneath the shade of a large tree. He knew he was about to be sitting there for quite a while.

* * *

An hour later Oncie dropped his guitar so that it hung loosely around his neck, picked up his Thneed, and motioned for the Once-ler to come towards him. No one had even given the Thneed a second glance the whole time he had been singing his heart out about it. How did people ever sell anything?

The Once-ler strode over, stretching his arms above his head. "That bench gets really uncomfortable after a while."

Oncie could care less about the bench, "why doesn't anyone want a Thneed," he complained, "literally no one is interested."

The Once-ler shrugged, "they must all have bad taste. It's a genius invention." He was scooting closer to Oncie again.

"You're the only one who thinks it's genius," Oncie pointed out, "that doesn't help anything."

The Once-let bumped his shoulder into Oncie's, "you can't give up, you're gonna make it big really soon I just know it."

"Sure doesn't seem like it."

"I believe in you."

Oncie found himself leaning into the Once-lers touch against his own will. It was just reassuring to hear someone say that they thought he going to make it, even his own family didn't say things like that to him. "Why don't we go get ice cream, I saw a place on the way here," the Once-ler suggested.

"Yeah that sounds good," Oncie admitted.

The Once-ler grinned, this was too easy, Oncie was so upset about not selling any Thneeds that he was practically putty in his hands.

Speaking of hands, Oncie's was brushing up against his in a way that was irresistible. The Once-ler tried his best to be subtle while he laced his fingers through Oncie's. Oncie went stiff at the gesture, he looked over at the Once-ler quickly with wide eyes. The Once-let just smiled, Oncie was so fun to play with.

By some miracle, they made it to the ice cream shop with their hands still intertwined. The Once-ler took off his sunglasses as soon as he stepped into the building, Oncie let go of his hand.

A few minutes later, Oncie was licking frantically at his waffle cone as ice cream threatened to drip all over his hands. Thankfully he had been smart enough to take off the Thneed and put it on the small table between them so it didn't get stained. The Once-ler had his cone in much better control, and was about to ask Oncie if he wanted him to go get more napkins when a young couple came up to their table.

"You were singing outside a while ago weren't you?" The girl asked.

Oncie pulled back from his cone in surprise. "Yeah that was me!"

"I'd like to purchase one of your- um-"

"Thneeds," Oncie supplied, he was beaming.

"Yes! I was going to while you were outside but my boyfriend insisted we go check out a sale first." She glared upwards toward the man standing behind her. The man had been watching the Once-ler the whole time.

"Oh that's totally fine!" The Once-ler reached over and took the ice cream cone out of Oncie's hand, it was dripping much worse than before.

"It's only $3.98," Oncie grinned, unfazed by the fact that his ice cream was suddenly gone. The lady was digging into her purse.

The man picked the Thneed up from off the table, "It's certainly pink," he commented.

The Once-ler, who was working on saving Oncie's ice cream (with his tongue), decided that he didn't like this man very much, but he wasn't going to rain on Oncie's parade, this was his first customer.

The girl handed Oncie her money, and the whole ordeal was over just as quickly as it had begun. Oncie was still smiling from ear to ear as he reached out to take his ice cream back, apparently unfazed that the Once-ler had been licking at it for the past few minutes.

"I told you you would be successful soon enough."

"Well it was only one customer," Oncie shrugged.

"More than you had yesterday," The Once-ler pointed out.

"True."

The Once-ler's plan was right on track, and _damn_ did it feel good.


	3. Chapter 3

The Lorax was standing outside of Oncie's home looking up at the Once-ler, who was wearing what the Lorax assumed were pajamas. It was a few days after Oncie's first Thneed sale, and Oncie's sales had picked up drastically, 30 Thneeds and counting.

"I need to talk to the beanpole," The Lorax still wasn't a fan of the other Once-ler.

The Once-ler turned around and made a show of calling, "Oncie we have a visitor," into the house. Oncie walked up behind him shortly after, yawning.

"Hey Lorax," he grinned crookedly, "what's up?"

"Just wanted to check on you. Make sure the other you hasn't hurt you."

"Aw you were worried about me," Oncie clasped his hands together. The Lorax rolled his eyes. "No need to worry about me though, he hasn't been causing any trouble, actually he's been helping me!"

"Helping you?"

"Yeah, Thneeds are selling like crazy it's super cool!"

"They have, have they?" The Lorax's bushy brow raised, "that's new."

"It's good though," Oncie assured, "I'm turning in a profit already!"

"Soon he's going to need a factory to make these things!" The Once-ler grinned proudly, and nuzzled his head back against Oncie.

The Lorax grimaced, "just don't make any rash decisions without consulting me first," he told Oncie, the other Once-ler obviously had a twisted mind, you could almost see the gears working behind his eyes.

"Of course I won't," Oncie smiled, "now if you don't mind, I need to get back to making Thneeds, they sell out fast!" The Lorax frowned as the door shut in his face, there was nothing he could do to stop the Once-ler from corrupting Oncie's mind at this point, they were inseparable, and the Lorax's words didn't seem to have an affect on Oncie at all.

The Lorax had to get rid of the other Once-ler fast, if he didn't who knew how far he would go to sell more Thneeds.

* * *

"Should I make another orange one, or a pink one?" Oncie asked, sitting back down at the kitchen table.

"Pink are more popular, make one of those," the Once-ler advised. He had fully gained Oncie's trust over the past few days after his advice had led to Oncie selling Thneeds. Soon the Once-ler was going to be able to introduce some bigger ideas, such as actually building a factory for Thneeds, but they hadn't sold enough to go to that level yet.

"I'm going to get dressed first," Oncie decided, "I feel lazy sitting around in pajamas all day."

The Once-ler made a noise that meant "okay" and Oncie left the room. The Once-ler figured he should probably get dressed too, but it's not like they were going anywhere, what he really needed was a shower. He'd take the bathroom as soon as Oncie was out.

The Once-ler looked over at the pile of finished Thneeds on the floor, he had to admit, the orange ones were quite snazzy, and they would appeal better to male audiences. The Once-ler considered the possibility of Oncie make a pink and orange Thneed, now that was a good idea!

The Once-ler's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door, the Lorax was back so soon? The Once-ler peered through the front window, not wanting to answer the door if it was him. Who he saw was definitely not the Lorax.

"Oncie!" The Onceler ran across the room so he was talking to the bathroom door, "your mom is here!"

The bathroom door flew open, Oncie's shirt was only buttoned up halfway and his pants were hanging open. "You have to hide! My mom can't know about you!" Oncie simultaneously zipped up his pants and shoved the Once-ler in the bathroom. "She'll freak out!"

"I'll just stay in here then, hurry up and answer the door!" The Once-ler pushed the bathroom door closed and Oncie quickly went to answer the front door.

"Hey mom!" Oncie greeted, cheeks flushed, and sounding a bit out of breath, "sorry I was in the middle of getting dressed."

"At this hour of the day? It's almost noon!" Oncie's mother scolded. She pushed herself inside Oncie's home without invitation. "I heard that you were making a profit off of your new product."

"Oh yeah! My Thneeds are selling fast! In fact I haven't gone to town yet today because I've been making more!" Oncie's mother was looking around the small room skeptically, "it's such a mess in here you'd think more than one person lived here!"

Oncie grinned sheepishly, "been too busy to clean, I suppose."

"Hmm," Oncie's mother began a self-led tour of Oncie's home Oncie was sweating nervously, heart beating fast in his chest, she was bound to look in the bathroom, how was he going to explain the other him?

The Once-ler's hat was lying on their- his bed. Oncie had found himself starting to refer to things as 'theirs' and he kept having to scold himself not to. The Once-ler's suit was also hanging up on the mirror, because the Once-ler didn't want it wrinkled. Oncie's mom also noticed this, "new business clothes hmm? A little bit outgoing but nice nonetheless," she was pulling at the collar on the Once-ler's suit.

They were getting closer to the bathroom, and Oncie cringed when he heard the familiar sound of the shower running, how dumb was the Once-ler?

"Is that your shower?" Oncie's mother asked. Oncie was scouring his mind for an explanation, it didn't help that the lock on the door was faulty and could easily be pushed open.

"Did I leave it on? I'll just slip in and turn it off," Oncie pushed open the bathroom door so it was just wide enough for him to squeeze through. Oncie's mother wasn't having any of that though, she easily pushed past Oncie into the bathroom and gasped when she realized the shower was occupied.

As if on cue, the Once-ler's muffled voice came from behind the curtain, "Oncie I thought you agreed to let me shower in peace!" If you didn't know who was behind the curtain, the voice was probably unrecognizable. Oncie's face went bright red.

"Oncie... do you have a boyfriend?"

"Oh shit is that your mom?!" The Once-ler was putting on a show behind the curtain, he knocked the shampoo down purposely so that it thudded on the floor.

"Come on Mom," Oncie grabbed onto his mother's elbow and started to drag her out of the room. He supposed it was okay if his mother thought he had a boyfriend, but as soon as she saw the Once-ler she would definitely freak out.

Then again, so what if she freaked out? Oncie realized that he couldn't hide the Once-ler forever, maybe it would be a good thing to get this over with quickly. Oncie grabbed the Once-ler's suit and put it on the bathroom counter, his mother standing in place in the middle of the bedroom. "Just make yourself decent," Oncie told the Once-ler, "I've decided that it's okay if she sees you seeing as you put on such a show."

"I really just wanted to take a shower I swear." Oncie rolled his eyes and shut the door behind him. Now he had to talk to his shell-shocked mother.

"Mom, I get this is really weird-"

"Oncie this is lovely!" His mother cut in, "of course if it was a girl it would be a bit more wonderful but oh well, Brett and Chet can give me grandchildren. What's his name?"

"Uhh," Oncie wished the Once-ler would hurry up and get out here. "You see, funny thing is we kind of have the same name."

Oncie's mother scrunched up her face, "the same name? What are the odds of that?"

"Not very high," Oncie muttered. The bathroom door opened behind him and he sucked in a deep breath. There stood the Once-ler, top hat and all, flashing a toothy grin towards his mother.

"Wha- he- you-" Oncie's mother sputtered, looking back and forth between Oncie and the Once-ler.

"I know, you're probably wondering how your son found such an attractive boyfriend, am I right?" The Once-ler sounded entirely too pleased with himself.

"How is this possible?" Oncie's mother squeeked.

"Magic," the Once-ler shrugged, he had taken over the situation easily, and Oncie welcomed him to it, he didn't know what to tell his mother at all.

"Just," the woman sucked in a deep breath, "please tell me you're not actually dating."

"That's your biggest concern?" The Once-ler tsked, "a clone of your son is talking to you right now and you just want to know if we're dating?" The Once-ler knew he loathed this woman for a reason, besides the fact that she was terrible to Oncie.

"Mom, maybe you should go home, you know, take some time to let this sink in," Oncie was using the calmest voice he could muster, his voice didn't sound like the Once-ler's at all.

"That's what I came here in the first place for!" Oncie's mother exclaimed, "I came to tell you that me and the rest of the family are moving into the forest!"

"What?!" Oncie's eyes opened wide, "why?!"

"Well to be close to you! I'm so proud of you it only seemed right!"

"You still want to move closer to me after this?" Oncie glanced towards the Once-ler.

"You must explain the situation to me," she said slowly. "Everything, I won't accept bits and pieces."

"Only if you don't tell anyone," Oncie said immediately, he did not need the rest of his family to know about this, they'd spread the story like wildfire and ruin his reputation, he couldn't let that happen now that he was finally becoming successful.

"No one would believe me anyhow," she sighed.

"Maybe we should sit down for this," Oncie suggested.

* * *

It didn't take very long for Oncie to explain the other him in the room, the Once-ler threw in snide remarks every other sentence, but that was expected. The hardest part of the retelling of the story was explaining that they couldn't be separated.

"I'm like his other half," the Once-ler supplied, causing Oncie to blush unreasonably.

"So this Lorax fellow is going to fix this though," Oncie's mother was still looking between them as if she couldn't believe they were both really there.

"He's working on it," Oncie said, "it's taking him longer than expected though.

"I don't mind," the Once-ler said, leaning up against Oncie. The man had no regards for personal space.

"Well," Oncie's mother was chewing on her bottom lip, "I suppose it's time for me to leave, don't want to overstay my welcome."

The Once-ler jumped up from the couch and only had to take a few steps to reach the front door. "It was very nice meeting you," he told Oncie's mother, but the glint in his eyes said otherwise.

"Come visit us, won't you Oncie?" She called past the Once-ler to her son.

"Of course, Mom!" Oncie smiled a lot more genuinely.

The Once-ler practically threw her out the door, he was more than ready for this conversation to end.

"That went well," Oncie shrugged, "well as well as it could have gone."

"I still don't like her," the Once-ler declared, "she doesn't approve of me."

"Not much I can do about it," Oncie said, "I don't approve of you either."

"Oncie!" The Once-ler exclaimed, pouting.

"Just saying," Oncie smirked and turned his back to the Once-ler so that he was facing his pile of Thneeds, "now to get back to wor- _oh_ ," Oncie practically moaned. The Once-ler had pressed his whole body up against Oncie's back and was hugging him from behind. Their bond made it feel amazing, bolts of pleasure were running through Oncie's whole body.

The Once-ler hummed in response, "are you sure you don't approve of me?" He set his chin on Oncie's shoulder.

"I'm sure," Oncie said, but his tone of voice said otherwise. Oncie would be perfectly content staying in this position all day.

Well, until the Once-ler started pressing his lips to Oncie's neck, trailing light kisses up towards his jaw. Oncie jolted away from the Once-ler, "cut that out!"

The Once-ler groaned, "I'm just trying to be nice."

"Kissing me is not nice, it's weird."

"Weird things can be nice. Besides you weren't complaining when I was hugging you, what's the difference?"

"The difference is that friends hug, friends do not kiss each other on the neck."

"We could probably make an exception-"

"Nope." Oncie leaned over and picked up his stack of Thneeds. "We need to go into town and sell some of these."

"You're no fun," the Once-ler sighed, "but I'll come with you anyways because I have to."

"Wear this," Oncie shoved a Thneed into the Once-ler's hands, "you need to represent the company."

The Once-ler scoffed, "the only way I'll wear this is if I can use it as a tie."

"I'm sure you can." Oncie wrapped his own Thneed around his neck as a scarf, this time opting for orange.

It took a couple minutes, but the Once-ler eventually swapped out his regular tie for a pink Thneed, and they were on their way to the city shortly after.

Oncie had been selling his Thneeds from the same spot that he had originally used for singing about them. People had willingly been coming up to him and buying Thneeds. It was kind of odd, seeing as he really wasn't advertising at all, but he had become known as 'the Thneed guy', so it worked.

It was a Saturday, and the town was bustling with potential customers. Oncie was immediately approached by a small crowd of people, and the Once-ler stood back, watching happily as the stack of Thneeds depleted quickly. He'd easily be able to convince Oncie that he needed to find a more practical way of making Thneeds other than by hand.

"I'll have more tomorrow," Oncie was telling people less than an hour later. The Once-ler pocketed the impressive stack of money they had made and took Oncie's hand in his own.

"You did great today, " The Once-ler grinned, thinking about the money he was quickly accumulating. "We're not making them fast enough to meet customer demand though."

"Well maybe if you helped me make them, we'd have more," Oncie glared at the Once-ler.

"I don't think I'd be very good at it," the Once-ler shrugged.

"Well we could make them faster if it didn't take so long to collect Truffula tufts. I'm actually getting quicker at making them. Maybe we just need a few more helping hands."

"Like employees?" The Once-ler considered the option, paying people wouldn't result in a very big profit. "I was thinking of something more mechanic, something we didn't have to pay."

"A machine? Sure if we can get someone to make one for us. That would definitely increase production speed." Oncie had to agree that it was a good idea. "We can look into it."

The Once-ler squeezed Oncie's hand. "Perfect."


	4. Chapter 4

Oncie poked at the machine sitting on his kitchen table. It wasn't very big, but boy was it heavy, and shiny too.

"It's super easy to use," The Once-ler was explaining, he had been the one to talk to the man who created the machine. "You just put the tufts in here and press start, and then bam! A Thneed is born!"

"I hope it works," Once tapped his finger to his chin, "the guy made this pretty fast."

"I can be very persuasive," the Once-ler replied in place of an explanation.

Just two weeks after the Once-ler introduced the idea of a Thneed-making machine, here it was, sitting in their home.

Not much had changed throughout that time period, they went to the city during the day to sell Thneeds and once they ran out they went home and made more. Every morning Oncie woke up wrapped in the Once-ler's arms, and every morning Oncie found himself minding less and less.

Oncie would never admit the fact to the Once-ler though, that would just encourage his overly affectionate antics.

The Once-ler shoved a bunch of Truffula tuft into the machine and pressed a big button on the front of the machine. The machine started up with a loud whirring sound. "This is gonna help us out so much Oncie," the Once-ler was staring at the machine adoringly.

In about two minutes, the machine dinged obnoxiously, and what Oncie hoped was a Thneed popped out the bottom. He stepped ahead and picked it up, it felt like a Thneed, he stretched it out, it looked like a Thneed too. "I think it worked."

The Once-ler laughed, "of course it did! Our production speed has been improved by over 50 percent!"

Oncie finally allowed himself to smile back at the Once-ler, "thanks, this is going to be amazing, I've never had this level of success before."

"You deserve it," The Once-ler shrugged, "anyways, we're out of bacon again, and I don't really feel like going to the store, so I was thinking that we should go out to eat to celebrate."

"You know I still don't think it's a good idea for people to see us together," Oncie sighed.

"If one of dresses a little differently and changes their hair no one will even notice," the Once-ler huffed.

"I guess," Oncie still wasn't sure about the idea. "We can get take out?"

"I just want to take you on a proper date!" The Once-ler exclaimed abruptly. Oncie was taken aback, as much as the Once-ler liked to flirt he didn't think that the other man would want to actually _date_ him.

"I- well- I never agreed to this!" Oncie crossed his arms over his chest.

The Once-ler rolled his eyes, "you act as if we don't do everything together anyways."

"That's different!" Oncie demanded, "I don't have a choice about that."

"Just forget I said anything," the Once-ler huffed, "I didn't realize you'd be so against the idea."

"I just don't think this is a very good idea," Oncie admitted, "it feels wrong." Well really the only part that felt wrong was the fact the Once-ler was literally him, but that wasn't something small he could look past.

"I won't push it," the Once-ler said, although he sounded disappointed.

Oncie groaned, "we can go out to eat, but it's most definitely _not_ going to be a date."

* * *

Oncie took a sip of water and looked back down at his menu. Italian food was great and all, but why did the restaurants always have to use such big words? Ravioli seemed like the safest choice at the moment because it was the only thing Oncie recognized.

The Once-ler looked up from his own menu, his hair was slicked back away from his face as part of his ploy to not look like Oncie. "What are you getting?"

"Ravioli?" Oncie grinned sheepishly.

"I was thinking about this ziti," the Once-ler pursed his lips, "this menu is too big."

Oncie laughed, "you chose this place."

"It's a nice place!"

A waiter approached their table and took their orders, Oncie stuck with the ravioli. The restaurant the Once-ler had chosen was very nice, Oncie felt underdressed looking around at the other customers. They probably couldn't see him anyways though, because it was so dang dark. Oncie was sure they could afford better lighting.

"It's to enhance the atmosphere," the Once-ler said after Oncie commented on it. "More roman-" he shut his mouth before he finished his sentence.

Oncie swallowed thickly, he was taken aback by how concerned the Once-ler seemed to be about gaining his permission to even bring up the subject. The Once-ler was always flirting with him, had he been too harsh back at the house?

"I uh didn't mean to, you know, hurt your feelings or anything earlier," Oncie said awkwardly.

"I know," the Once-ler said.

Oncie shifted in his seat, "it's not you, it's me," he tried.

The Once-ler snorted, "this isn't some kind of romance novel, you don't have to play by the rules. If you don't want to be with me like that than so be it."

"But," Oncie bit his bottom lip, "what if I'm not sure what I want?"

The Once-ler raised a brow, "well then maybe you should be willing to experiment."

Oncie's cheeks flushed, he wished the waiter would hurry up and bring their food so he could change the subject. "I suppose nothing bad can come out of experimenting." Except that a ton of bad things could come from experimenting.

The Once-ler shrugged. It was a good thing that Oncie was so gullible, of course he didn't really want to be in a relationship with the other man, it was just another part of his plan to build the Thneed empire. If he and Oncie were in a relationship than Oncie was bound to not only trust him more, but he'd also willingly share the company with him. After that happened it wouldn't take long at all for him to take full control of the company.

The waiter finally brought their food out, and Oncie dug in immediately to avoid further conversation. The food was delicious, at least that was one plus about eating at this place.

The rest of the meal was spent in a semi-awkward silence, at least that's how Oncie felt about it. By the time they were done eating the sun was setting low in the sky and the restaurant was becoming quite crowded.

When the Once-ler reached out to take his hand out of habit, Oncie paused momentarily before taking it. They'd been doing this for days, why was it any different now? It was admittedly strange that they did it in the first place, Oncie told himself that it was just a side effect of the bond, being near each other felt nice, it was just natural that they would do stuff like hold hands.

As soon as they got home the Once-ler headed to the bathroom to 'fix' his hair. Oncie sat down on his bed and took in a deep breath, going to bed sounded like a good idea to him, then he could ignore the whole dating himself crisis going on inside his head.

Oncie put on his pajamas and crawled underneath the sheets, it was way earlier than he usually went to bed, but hopefully the Once-ler wouldn't comment.

The Once-ler yawned loudly as he re-entered the room, he wasn't surprised to see Oncie was already ready for bed, he didn't have anything better to do than go to sleep as well so he laid down next to Oncie.

Oncie huffed and rolled over so that he was curled on his side facing the Once-ler. The Once-ler blinked, he wasn't sure what Oncie was playing at.

Oncie reached out his hand and pressed his palm to the Once-ler's cheek, this was it, it was now or never, he had come to the decision as soon as the Once-ler laid down next to him that maybe experimenting was alright.

Oncie pulled himself closer to the Once-ler and quickly pressed his mouth to the Once-ler's. It was a chaste, closed mouth kiss that barely lasted a few seconds because Oncie was so nervous. As soon as they had touched though, Oncie had felt the familiar feeling of their bond amplified, it was nothing less than amazing.

The Once-ler was grinning broadly when Oncie opened his eyes, Oncie smiled back uncertainly.


End file.
